Clint Dempsey and the Fate of America

Clint Dempsey is not an angry person. Countless profiles of the United States and Fulham star reveal a family man who loves his wife Bethany, his children (Elysia and Jackson), and his large family. They tell the touching tale of a young Clint sacrificing his soccer dreams so his talented sister Jennifer could pursue her tennis career, only returning to his expensive travel team after she tragically passed away from a brain aneurysm. A grown Dempsey chats with kids to help them reach their goals. He’s a nice guy.

My personal favorite Dempsey anecdote takes place in South Africa during the 2010 World Cup. The American team was sequestered at Irene Country Lodge in a remote part of Pretoria. Cows and chickens wandered the premises, which doubled as a working farm. Although the US staff provided the requisite videogame systems, the players were frequently bored. Much to the amusement of their teammates, on most afternoons Dempsey and his childhood friend José Francisco Torres found themselves fishing in the pond behind their room. You can take the boys out of Texas…

So no, Clint Dempsey is not angry. But Lord, he sure does look pissed on the field. This partially, I suspect, is a product of his appearance. Combine those big googly eyes with a smile, and you get a man who couldn’t intimidate Miss Piggy, much less Maicon or Messi. Draw a scowl (and some stubble) below Dempsey’s big browns, however, and you’re confronting a scary-ass Muppet coming off a five-day bender. What a long, strange trip it’s been from Nacogdoches.

But there’s more. The attacker looks angry because he plays angry, both for himself and his country. It works. See 22 goals for the Stars and Stripes—5th on the all-time list—and a dozen for Fulham during the 2010-2011 season. There are two chips on his shoulder: one from thriving against the absurdly long odds and the larger, collective one he shares with his American brethren who are succeeding in the world’s game.

You hear the refrain that soccer is joy, soccer is love, soccer is beauty. These are overused narratives in the Age of The Special One—magnificence is fighting a losing battle against the need for victory—but ones that persist among the billions who cherish the sport. Barcelona isn’t the most loved team on the planet because we like their uniforms. We hold out for vestiges of the beautiful game.

American soccer in its current form, however, is not about splendor. It can’t be if the Red, White, and Blue want to succeed. Nor should that be the goal. Not right now. The US needs grit and determination, the stuff of Detroit and the American dream. They need last-second miracles against Algeria—Landon Donovan converted Dempsey’s rebound—and sliding goals against Panama in the Gold Cup. They can’t walk the ball into the net, even against Guadeloupe. Not yet, and maybe not ever.

Clint Dempsey’s fury is the most consistent example of what the US requires. It’s not that he can’t mixtape a defender or score the most impressive of goals, but more that the focus is on effort and passion. Earlier in his national team career, the midfielder was criticized—rightly or wrongly—for floating in and out of games. As he grows older, he’s morphing into a latter day Brian McBride, sacrificing his body and soul for the Stars and Stripes, glaring from the first notes of the “Star Spangled Banner” through the final whistle.

At the 2006 World Cup, Dempsey scored the lone goal by an American. He beat Ghanaian defender Habib Mohamed to a curling pass from DaMarcus Beasley and slammed the bouncing ball past Richard Kingson. It was the hardest I’ve ever seen a member of Red, White, and Blue kick a ball, a release of frustrations that were both personal and squadwide.

Then, hard work done, he ran to the corner flag, arms raised in triumph as the anger evaporated for a brief moment. He broke into a smile and shimmied with joy for the briefest of moments before the anger and intensity returned to his narrow face. As Beasley, McBride, and Eddie Lewis enveloped him in a group hug, he screamed, fists balled in fury. The struggle wasn’t over. It never is.

A look can’t kill, but it can sure make a statement as the ball explodes into the back of the net.

Noah Davis (www.noahedavis.com) covers the United States national team for MLSsoccer.com and has reported from exotic locations including Guatemala, Honduras, South Africa, and Columbus, Ohio. You can follow him on Twitter @noahedavis.

Clint Dempsey and the Fate of America

Great read. I’m hopeful that Klinsmann can add a touch of attacking flair to the determined style the US currently employs (Bringing in Torres is a nice first step in that direction), but as the Brazilians have seen recently, results speak louder than style in this era.

This piece made me watch the goal against Juventus for the thousandth time. The fact that he had a nasty black eye when he scored that beauty of a goal reinforces just about every point made above, and true to form, the smile appeared for only a few moments. Although, to be fair, a kiss from Damien Duff is enough to make anyone a little uneasy.

I cringe every time Martin Tyler and Andy Gray berate him in FIFA 11 for his poor body language…

That first goal was absolutely not Dempsey’s fault. ZERO percent. Dempsey took a loose ball and calmly passed it back to Reyna’s feet. Reyna had plenty of time to clear it. He had about two seconds to kick the ball in literally any direction. Instead, he stood there with the ball until he was stripped/injured/fell down and i proceeded to slit my wrists VERTICALLY as an African nation that shall remain nameless broke my heart in what would be the first of two consecutive world cups. I get that he was injured in the process and I don’t mean to rag on Reyna, but let’s be serious, Dempsey was not even partially at fault there.

There is, however, some serious causation between Reyna’s inexplicable gift and the fact that I’m no longer permitted to watch USA games of the knockout variety in the presence of small children or the elderly.

P.S. Spangler’s Article is also quite good. I’ve read it a couple times, but I’m going to do it again. Thanks for the article and the links. Keep it up. And RIP Pimp C.

Great stuff. Dempsey’s on-field anger is why I always prefer him to Donovan. That and he always seems the player that can instantly be more dangerous. I hope Klinsmann can teach the younger players to have a more joyful disposition, a greater source of football fulfillment. Until then? Bring the rage.

@Anthony If it takes the national team coach to teach players how to enjoy the game, the USSF is in a really poor position. By the time players reach the National level there ideally should, by all rights, be very little left to instruct. Either the players have the skills or they do not. If they do not, you just pick the ones with the fewest game breaking faults, there’s little else you can do since by 30 there’s a good chance they’re not going to drastically change how they’ve learned to play the game, especially since they’ve probably been playing for 25 odd years. A national team coach should be a facilitator, someone who understands how to fit all the players who are probably unfamiliar with each others’ playing habits together, and get them comfortable playing as a whole. The constant requests for national level coaches to instruct their players and “teach them how to play” is disingenuous and as far as I’m concerned not possible given the extremely abbreviated timelines with which they’re even able to interact with the players.

@Anthony I know you said “younger players” but I feel my point stands, the best you can hope for is to make the players feel comfortable playing their game and finding combinations which work well together. I think there’s going to be very little technical instruction going on for the reasons I stated previously.

I’ve always liked Dempsey’s football style, you can see his determination while playing, especially for his national team. I think his career deserved something more than playing for Fulham (I’ve got nothing against Fulham, even though I’m a Juventus fan…’nuff said): I’d like to see him in a competitive team in Serie A or in the Spanish Liga.

Ah, and another very good US player is Michael Bradley. Seen him at the 2010 World Cup, such a smart player with an excellent sense for tactical situations. Maybe he played at his best because he was the coach’s son, so he had to show that he deserved a spot in the team only because of his skills. Maybe.